Originally Posted by
AZLA
Respect your opinion. But the rule is great. Football is not just about offense but defense, and defending your goal line. Today’s game rules are skewed heavily to reward offense and scoring, which is why it has become a passing league. If an offense player is about to score a TD but looses possession and the ball goes into the end zone, and if an offensive player recovers, they score 6 points with the option to go for 1 or 2 more. Kinda unfair. In rugby for example the ball would be taken far back on the pitch and still in the offense’s possession. In football it’s 7 points. Where as defense only gets it at their 20 yard line. This heavily favors and rewards the offense if they regain control. If the ball is fumbled by offense anywhere else football, the rule favors the offense, and they not only get it back, they get it back where it went out if it’s anywhere else on the field besides the end zone. Out of 120 yards of the field, for 100 of yards of it, the offense is rewarded with the ball. The end zone is what the defense is defending — it’s their last stand — and considering how rewarded offense is by the rules and that it is so rare and they get less than 17% out of bounds ruling for the entire field — this is the last equalizer for Defense that they have. And it’s a great rule in my opinion. That being said the hit wouldn’t have been flagged even a few years ago, but it was clearly targeting and Cleveland should have been awarded the ball based at the point of foul.
Lastly, same for basketball, if there’s a tie up for a ball, there should not be a possession arrow or jump ball — I believe that defense should always be awarded the ball. Just an opinion.